1. Field
Apparatuses and methods consistent with exemplary embodiments relate to an audio apparatus and an audio providing method thereof, and more particularly, to an audio apparatus and an audio providing method in which virtual audio that gives a sense of elevation is generated and provided by using a plurality of speakers located on a same plane.
2. Description of Related Art
Due to advances in video and sound processing technology, content having high image quality and high sound quality is widely available. Therefore, users would like content having high image quality and high sound quality with realistic video and audio.
3D audio is a technology in which a plurality of speakers are located at different positions on a horizontal plane and output the same audio signal or different audio signals, thereby enabling a user to perceive a sense of space. However, actual audio is provided at various positions on a horizontal plane and is also provided at different heights. Therefore, a technology could be developed for effectively reproducing an audio signal provided at different heights.
In the related art, as illustrated in FIG. 1A, an audio signal is filtered by a tone color conversion filter (for example, a head related transfer filter (HRTF) correction filter) corresponding to a first height, and a plurality of audio signals are generated by copying the filtered audio signal. A plurality of gain applying units respectively amplify or attenuate the generated plurality of audio signals, based on gain values respectively corresponding to a plurality of speakers through which the generated plurality of audio signals are to be output, and amplified or attenuated sound signals are respectively output through corresponding speakers. Accordingly, virtual audio giving a sense of elevation may be generated by using a plurality of speakers located on the same plane.
However, in a virtual audio signal generating method of the related art, a sweet spot is narrow, and for this reason, in the case of actually reproducing audio through a system, the performance is limited. That is, in the related art, as illustrated in FIG. 1B, because audio is optimized and rendered at one point only (for example, a region 0 located in the center), a user cannot normally listen to a virtual audio signal giving a sense of elevation in a region (for example, a region X located leftward from the center) instead of the one point.